Miss USA talks about her pageant win, race and hair: "I am a Black woman" (FULL)

Miss USA Cheslie Kryst talks 1-on-1 with theGrio's Natasha Alford about her pageant win, rocking her natural hair, racial identity and gaining confidence in yourself.
Connect with theGrio
Subscribe: / thegrio
Instagram: / thegrio
Facebook: / thegrio
Twitter: / thegrio
Website: theGrio.com/

[@proudblackwoman4824]

I genuinely wish I could bring her back and just hold her close in my arms. I would never let go. Rest peacefully, beautiful Queen.

[@robynmoore7847]

I was thinking that same thing today. I still feel so bad about all this. Just so unreal. Seems like I knew her personally. The daughter I never had. Everything seem to be in her favor. She had it all. Cannot imagine something horrific like this happening. This hurts😭

[@destynilassiter3373]

She was a true inspiration. I truly admired her hard work and success.

[@IloveJesus777j77]

​@@robynmoore7847Romans 10:9-11 says, "If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved".Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. 18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. 19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.❤❤😊

[@IloveJesus777j77]

​@@destynilassiter3373❤Romans 10:9-11 says, "If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved".Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. 18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. 19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

[@yvettetorres7829]

Cheslie passed yesterday. RIP beautiful soul 🙏🕊️ Maybe the pressure was too much to shine and be positive all the time. My heart is so sad. Please don't give up. Reach out to a qualified person if you feel you can't go on. There's always a solution. Cheslie you will be missed 🙏💔

[@charlesbanksbanks7532]

❤️☹️

[@angelasconversations5551]

I am so sorry that this happened to her. At least now she is no longer having to compete on a daily basis. Based on this interview, if you are a person that has discernment, it is very clear that it is very important for her to always speak about her accomplishments, always speak about well-known people that she has met, always speak about doing things. And when she said that because her mother won a pageant that her mother had so much power and everyone listened to her. And that meant the most to her. Unfortunately it doesn't seem that she was very happy within herself for just being herself. It appears that she's placed un-achievable standards on herself. No one can exist for long going 110 miles an hour every single day all day without having a physical and mental breakdown. Rest in peace Cheslie!. I wish she could have known that had she done none of these accomplishments she still would have been good enough!

[@tracey8698]

I agree with everything you said

[@ladyclarke9903]

My condolences to the bereaved 🙏

[@debeenanderson6834]

So true great assessment so sorry maybe p eople who were close to her didn't realize what was going on with her struggles and reinforced to her that all is well she has done well life sometimes we take things too serious and just try to live a happy life with what we're blessed with

[@percyastronautstatus.8780]

Yes she was VERY METICULOUS in EVERYTHING. She even had a set time to do her hair in the morning...I mean being very METICULOUS gave her the structure to accomplish all these things BUT all that " stiffness " , she couldn't sustain it ....We were made to be FREE. ,and even tho she was VERY ORGANIZED it still didn't give her spontaneity and free flowing freedom ..

[@KingoftheRoad-2023]

Just imagine all this beauty, the looks, better than 99% of women in the looks department-then jumping from a building at random?? Kinda selfish you know

[@BelovethDua]

Watching her, looks surreal. I forget that she has passed away, her presence is so captivating more like a Disney princess. I wish she was never hurt so bad...

[@Shay_TheUnpopularOpinion_]

Honestly the pressure you put on yourself can be good to a fault! I am completely assuming but I am trying to say…. be kind to yourself and be kind to others. You never know what someone is going through!!!

[@cherylmks]

My mom is Puerto Rican and my dad is black. Puerto Rican is not a race. It is a nationality.

[@waleskaaddams]

Exactly!! 🇵🇷

[@yerrrboi8086]

True

[@emilydowepa-c8975]

👏

[@mees2751]

RIP Beautiful Queen

[@TruthSeeker09825]

Such a beautiful soul. Breaks my heart she’s gone.

[@canamatos373]

Rip sweetheart 🥲

[@ericawhyte108]

Beautiful so sad, such is life...Jamaica miss you...Rip

[@ladyzinada5341]

Rest in love Beautiful Queen. You may had trouble with wanting to turn 30, but we will remember you no matter what. You was accomplished, beautiful, loving, caring, kind, sweet, courageous, tough, a bawl of goodness and sunlight. I'm so sorry. 😪

[@ninfaareallano8459]

Oh this video has the answer to people who are curious if she had a boyfriend. Can hardly figure it out why she did that jumped off a high rise building & committed suicide when she looked very optimistic in life, have strong personality, awesome empowered woman with amazing perspective in life, so brilliant & already successful at age 30. To end her life that way just didn't make sense but it happened. God bless her soul. A beautiful brilliant former Miss USA gone too soon, RIP.

[@XimenaZhao415]

She really seemed like she had the perfect life. Interesting that she was a Kamala Harris fangirl.

[@gorgeouswales9635]

Sad she’s not with us today! Rest on 🔥🙏🏽

[@einsteindarwin8756]

I remember when I worked at a law firm out of college and the white women would always make a big deal that my hair was styled differently every day because i didn’t not straighten it. Even back in the 90s because my mother said relaxers made her hair thin. I don’t get a relaxer until I I just couldn’t take it anymore. Now I’m back to my natural hair but it’s still hard, even around Some Black women.

[@stephenanderson1594]

Now Miss Earth USA Emanii Davis. Black girl magic continues.

[@Jaykan-sk8zm]

biracial girl magic

[@anthonywest4173]

@@Jaykan-sk8zm JUST STOP!

[@kevinsupreme2514]

@@Jaykan-sk8zm WHAT DID SHE SAY. LOL. BLACK GIRL MAGIC. SHUT UP FOOL...

[@user-wb2yv7ll9d]

No hint at all of any issues, IMHO. Apparently she had a previous attempt before the one that ended her life. She was beautiful inside and out.

[@missbarilladefenton9268]

She is so smart, and confident, beautiful all around. She has everything to win... besides we (USA) are do for another Miss UNiverse ...

[@jeromejackson6111]

Cheslie, you're such an inspirational woman. Great interview much love & success with your future endeavors.

[@liubakazakevic9818]

This woman is such an inspiration to me. She was so beautiful and extremely smart. Such a hard-working person too. Just a very decent and kind individual. She inspired so many, especially black women, of course, but not only. I am white and from Europe and i love this girl.

[@mssmith225]

All my life I was told that " your pretty for a dark skin black girl'.

[@nataliemhibbert1760]

Wow. We lost a gem. So sad.

[@maserati925]

I don’t “fit” in a box, I create my own. I’m biracial and my children after me will be as well.. never deny one half of your heritage/culture, it’s not mentally healthy.

[@khokoOO7]

👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 I agree 100%. Biracial and Black is not the same.

[@msshannon8379]

How will your children be biracial? Are you marrying white??

[@michelen5728]

American issues

[@bregjejabra25]

Now she is young and beautiful forever.....RIP.

[@deeperbeauty4147]

She seemed like such a sweet soul ..Do we know where that boyfriend was when this all happened??

[@josephc28]

I was wondering that also. Cheslie may have wanted to keep that part of her life private, but it seems odd, if she knew the boyfriend since she was 13, and they were friends for years before they started dating, there is not anything on her social media about him.

[@bluesky7288]

On one podcast she said his name was Peyton. She was good friends with Mike Johnson and vacationed with him. He is from the bachelorette. I don't know she ever had a boyfriend. Just think it was a way to get out of the awkward questions.

[@amazonwoman3867]

Right!...Anybody notice the ring on her "married" finger?

[@ladyclarke9903]

Certainly you know people in relationships experience depression as well. How Brain Chemicals Influence Mood and Health The three neurotransmitters implicated in depression are: Dopamine. Norepinephrine. Serotonin. When someone is able to function but still experiences significant symptoms of depression, it is called persistent depressive disorder. Previously this mental illness was called dysthymia and is sometimes still referred to by that term. Good luck to us all. 🙏

[@AvaLynn85]

Beautiful and kind.

[@RedAndTheCompany567]

I'm not a fan of The Grio at all so I never commented on the video., I remember watching Cheslie b/c I became a huge fan of hers after she won Miss USA. This is an awful way for her story to end. R.I.P pray 🙏🏼 🕊

[@justified1613]

Love this!

[@novembersky3749]

awww why girl friend why : ( u beautiful.

[@lucygarcia6295]

SADLY AT THE END SHE DIDN’T LIVE UP TO WHAT SHE SAID. SHE DIDN’T LOVE HER BLACK MAGIC SELF. Sad for girls in her family whomight’ve had looked up to her. Very disturbed family. She quit law practice and took her life. Not good for young black magic girls🥺

[@anthonywest4173]

CONGRATULATIONS MISS USA 2019 CHESLIE. CHESLIE HAS BEAUTIFUL HAIR.

[@novembersky3749]

i recall then i really dug that hair so i had =my hair permed!!!! so was my daughter : )

[@robertomonicoignacio]

RIP

[@jepoyvlog7724]

I like everything on her RIP beautiful soul 😭

[@DC-ts2ww]

Based on this show, we need to know who's hers boyfriend. What happened between the two of them?

[@humblebee4]

You must have read my mind🤔🤔.

[@hajriedemushi7584]

This is the first video I hear her talking about her boyfriend who is he where are images?

[@fatgirlmagic4703]

Exactly. I think this may have explained some things . If u notice . She was genuinely happy here . So the boyfriend of almost two years . Shouldn't she have been happy to settle down . Turn 30 with him? Have a family. Instead this lady felt like an old maid . Naaa . I think this has something to do with her romantic rship. This was two years ago. What happened between her and the boyfriend that made her feel so hollow. 😕

[@fatgirlmagic4703]

Plus she was getting ready to go to a wedding the morning that she passed . Is it that she was tired of seeing everyone pregnant, getting married and she was not able to succeed in a rship when she possibly thought she would be married and pregnant by 30. Interesting

[@sable7114]

@@hajriedemushi7584 his name was Peyton Barker and you can find them on Facebook with photos of her. It says he went to the University of South Carolina. Reportedly they broke up shortly after she won Miss USA.

[@ronthompson5372]

Painfully Sad Loss of such a Beautiful Human Being Age Ain’t Nothin’ But A Number You would have grown more beautiful each day had you been able to stay with us Your Light Shines Brightly Still As beautiful inside as outside and such a beautiful soul Rest In Heavenly Peace Sweet Angel Cheslie Kryst 😇👑🌟☀️💎💔🌹🌹🌹🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾

[@curlyvseedstar2108]

I am not as beautiful but my hair is very very similar to hers and... people love it very much or hate it very much and some people likes to let you know... It is easy this days I was a teen in the 90's and I was the weirdo who wouldn't straight the hair. I've always loved my hair no matter people's opinions. I am mixed nobody claims me so I consider myself mixed just to keep peace with everyone 😅 people label me all the time and confuses me with many cultures I really don't care love everyone ❤ I am Me. I even say sometimes it doesn't matter get to know me people is too fascinated about race and cultures like that's the only thing that defines a person

[@robynmoore7847]

Its a lot to deal with. It always seem as if she was struggling.

[@itskleoxo]

mixed girl magic

[@kevinsupreme2514]

BLACK LIKE SHE SAID. BLACK IS THE DOMINANT GENE..

[@PsychicMedium4747]

@@kevinsupreme2514 you are wrong….she was a biracial woman. Black is not dominant…that’s not how genetics work. She clearly looks biracial. Lupita is a black woman with black features,, chelsie was clearly mixed race

[@PsychicMedium4747]

@@kevinsupreme2514 I thought you said black was dominant? Explain why science disagrees with you? kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y6fVm5xqodhnhbc The stupidity ….is embarrassing. She was mixed race period.

[@kevinsupreme2514]

@@PsychicMedium4747 Just shows that you are clueless about black people... You sound like a damn fool, lol...

[@ctucker7002]

@@PsychicMedium4747 I know mix people who don't look mixed at all! So what do you say they are - black?

[@mssmith225]

All that she was. Why? I guess we will never know. I hope you are at peace.

[@jackieo4980]

Unreal.

[@ameldamacklein4188]

Her mom was a rolemodel

[@miekaxiii]

🥺❤️

[@carmelvillard]

Well she's not black. She's mixed

[@erickanew]

It's how she identified. People ask that question a lot. "How do you identify", it's up to the individual.

[@ladyzinada5341]

She identified Black. Get over it. O know she glad to be away from this Judgmental world and people who choose for her

[@ctucker7002]

@@erickanew Thank you it irks me when people don't accept how you choose to identify.

[@khokoOO7]

Just because you identify as something does not make it true. This woman was the product of a White man and Black woman. White men and White women cannot create fully Black children.

[@ctucker7002]

@@khokoOO7 ok - I am black but others assume I am mixed. Both my parents are black and all 4 grandparents are black. It's more about your cultural experience. I dislike when others make assumptions or ask what are you mixed with.

[@charitapadilla118]

RIP Cheslie... She was an adorable little girl in the video. She was a beautiful human being. When I watched the videos of her. I could hear her voice sound wasn't too thrilled or happy. As I watch her facial expression. As you can see she wasn't happy or sound like it was good enough for her that she had done everything that she could do. about her boyfriend. They have broken up just before she entered the Pageantry 2019. She did find out that he was cheating on her or they had been arguing. Behind the smile, you can see the sadness and her eyes as well. that is where you will see the sign of " Depression" she was a very good hidden. but, some of us can see that and heard her voice a little tiny emotional in her. She can pull it all together to herself. Her mom April says that it wasn't her first time committing suicide. Cheslie did try to commit suicide in her 20s. she was constantly fighting from the darkness in her mind that she can't control. from the Security guard and surveillance video did show that Cheslie did jump off the building. from the quiet street and people who were walking passing by while she was flowing down to the ground. Someone might saw her before she hit on the ground. it might be a horrific scene that her body and whole blood. it was awful;. We will never ever forget her for the rest of our lives. her legacy will live on as always.

[@JungleYT]

*NO surveillance video of her jumping has surfaced... Only video of her striking the pavement, taken from a nearby surveillance camera at street level... That video has since been scrubbed from the Internet. Very little blood was around her body. She likely jumped or was pushed from the lower elevated portion out of sight of any video cameras. The rumor of her last being seen up on the 29th are likely a hoax fabricated for reasons that are still unclear*

[@charitapadilla118]

What do you mean it was a hoax Fabricated by Cheslie??

[@charitapadilla118]

Ohhh do you mean she might be pushed to herself at the edges from lower building? Not from 29th level building. If if she would jumped off the building then it would be a lot of blood and broke bones, right??

[@JungleYT]

​@@charitapadilla118 I DID NOT mean fabricated by Cheslie... However, the narrative of her last being seen up on the 29th is beginning to turn out as a hoax? Since NO surveillance video of her from up there has been produced... Now, in case you might say nobody needs to see her jumping or that her family should not have to see that, etc., I agree with that... We DON'T need to see her jumping, stepping, or however, she allegedly did it... Just a few captures or stills proving she was last up there. Show those images and most conspiracy theories go out the window

[@JungleYT]

@@charitapadilla118 If you study the architecture of the building, it juts out toward the street for the final few stories. Enough to where, if she had jumped from the terrace, she should have landed on top of that portion or at least down on the sidewalk. However, she landed out in the street. So, unless she bounced off the roof of that lower portion, she likely ran and jumped or was thrown off that lower portion... That's the only other way she could have gotten that far out into the street? There was also a video of her impacting the pavement that has since been taken down from the Internet. In that video she hit real hard, bounced and quickly settled. Had she fallen from the terrace, it would not have been a bounce and a settle? More like a splatter with more blood and carnage. So, again, it looked like she fell from a lower level. The lack of any blood around her body is also strange. Like maybe she was already dead before she fell? A live body would have possibly shed more blood? It's all so very strange...

[@SaturnStarOfDavid]

The boyfriend wasn't satisfying enough. That should have never happened.

[@soleilpapillons]

nice chelsie! much love to you

[@DeliaNErik]

Beautiful women

[@emilydowepa-c8975]

Why can’t we just be truthful and just let ppl identify as what they are which is biracial. It’s really important because whether we like it or not biracial ppl have different health issues and some stirred have shown they suffer from mental health more than others. This is a shame that we cannot just be truthful yet there are 107 pronouns for ppl who are not living in their truths. And don’t get me wrong I don’t think we shouldn’t support those ppl but the world has not progressed when it comes to racial identity at all. We are stuck in the stone ages

[@msshannon8379]

Beautiful

[@DeliaNErik]

Is so true we get tempted to touch curly hair I done it 😂 I’m Hispanic/ and my son dad is black my son calls himself black. He got the dark skin and curly hair he encounter a lot races comments also he didn’t like skin color He would tell people he was Puerto Rican Because he felt that he would be more accepted since I live in a Spanish community here in Washington

[@eternallyrising1673]

It’s not funny touching peoples hair just because it’s curly. The fact that your son is half black and you sound so out of touch is slightly alarming

[@msshannon8379]

Ursula Burns. Xerox

[@candy-sj]

I can't believe she was always depressed wanting to die 😮😢

[@cutekoala5492]

Yeah she said her mom was the reason she stayed alive for years, i wonder how her life would be be now if she hadn't jumped that fateful day.

[@KingoftheRoad-2023]

Just imagine all this beauty, the looks, better than 99% of women in the looks department-then jumping from a building at random?? Kinda selfish you know

[@lindayeager3126]

She reminds me of Megan Markle!

[@floralcapacity7319]

really, why? (me too btw)

[@sable7114]

She looks like Solange or maybe a little bit like Tracee Ellis Ross as well

[@BrendaBaBoom]

I used to be Black. Now I’m biracial …. according to ….

[@TheStarGardian]

ON planet Mars you could be what some people call a biracial person *BUT UNFORTUNATELY FOR YOU AND A LOT OF OTHER PEOPLE THAT LIKE TO PLAY THE RACE GAME THE CONCEPT OF RACE IS A MYTH AND DOES NOT EXIST* 👽 NOW on this PLANET Earth there's no such thing as RACE as far as humans are concerned. The concept of race is a anthropomorphic idea an idea from man that's not based in a scientific reality like the TOOTH fairy. Even so-called WHITE people do not share a common genetic heritage instead they come from different lineages the first past from Africa to India Asia and beyond... and this also accounts for all non-african populations in other words your either an African or a descendant of an African... 👉 so-called WHITE people are simply caucasians NOT A DIFFERENT RACE OF PEOPLE... WE ARE ALL 99.6% THE SAME.. LIFE BEGAN IN AFRICA AND SPREADED OUT AROUND THE WORLD THAT'S WHY IT'S CALLED MOTHERLAND* *Adolf Hitler's DNA was ran through 39 of his closest family members and the results were that he was actually North African and Jewish. 😱 *PLEASE READ ARTICLES* 😱 #1 WHAT DNA SAYS ABOUT HUMAN ANCESTRY. #2 THE JOURNEY OF MANKIND On KZbin : DOCUMENTARY CHEDDAR MAN SPECULATION READ: THE JIG IS UP 😱 *A Paler Shade Of Black* www.calresco.org/beckermn/black.htm

[@TheStarGardian]

ON planet Mars you could be what some people call a biracial person *BUT UNFORTUNATELY FOR YOU AND A LOT OF OTHER PEOPLE THAT LIKE TO PLAY THE RACE GAME THE CONCEPT OF RACE IS A MYTH AND DOES NOT EXIST* 👽 NOW on this PLANET Earth there's no such thing as RACE as far as humans are concerned. The concept of race is a anthropomorphic idea an idea from man that's not based in a scientific reality like the TOOTH fairy. Even so-called WHITE people do not share a common genetic heritage instead they come from different lineages the first past from Africa to India Asia and beyond... and this also accounts for all non-african populations in other words your either an African or a descendant of an African... 👉 so-called WHITE people are simply caucasians NOT A DIFFERENT RACE OF PEOPLE... WE ARE ALL 99.6% THE SAME.. LIFE BEGAN IN AFRICA AND SPREADED OUT AROUND THE WORLD THAT'S WHY IT'S CALLED MOTHERLAND* *Adolf Hitler's DNA was ran through 39 of his closest family members and the results were that he was actually North African and Jewish. 😱 *PLEASE READ ARTICLES* 😱 #1 WHAT DNA SAYS ABOUT HUMAN ANCESTRY. #2 THE JOURNEY OF MANKIND On KZbin : DOCUMENTARY CHEDDAR MAN SPECULATION READ: THE JIG IS UP 😱 *A Paler Shade Of Black* www.calresco.org/beckermn/black.html

[@matamovie9799]

sorry no offend but when usa is on the stage of miss universe it will not excited anymore because of sarah rose summer. sorry usa